Careless
by wickedly-pure
Summary: Prequel to Tonight: Jon's life is wrestling, but then something else comes along for him to care about. Will he end up pushing Emerson away with his brash personality? Or will true love win?
1. Chapter 1

He came there for wrestling. His escape from life. The one thing he felt he was meant to do.  
For Jon, life had been anything but easy. He had witnessed many horrible things since an early age. When he found wrestling, it became something he could hold on to. Something he could relate with. Despite being told that he was too young and being turned away, he came back, he couldn't stay away. Little did he know, that as he sat and watched the action in the ring, someone was watching him.

Emerson had walked in with her father's doctor's bag that he had asked her to bring. The small building wasn't unfamiliar to her. Her father had been a supporter of wrestling since as far back as she could remember. She had known most of the people in the building since before she could walk. She had always tagged along with her father to the training sessions and shows. She enjoyed it as much as he did, but it had been a while since she had been in the building. A little over a year ago her mother had lost her battle with cancer, and Em had poured herself into her athletics. She had completely filled her life to help her cope with the loss. Today was one of her rare days when she only had one practice. Her eyes scanned the room for her dad. He wasn't in his usual spot next to the ring. As she looked across the room, her eyes fell on him. What was he doing there? She didn't really know him, but she knew of him. They had a few classes together at school. She'd passed him in the halls for years and had never even said hello. Now there he was, watching the show. He was mysterious, and a little dangerous. That's what attracted her to him. That's what had always drawn her to him. He had no idea that she had a crush on him. After all he never even looked twice at her. She wasn't his type at all, not that she knew his type, but in her mind, she was sure he wanted nothing to do with her. She was a cheerleader, she ran track, and was involved in numerous clubs. She attended two dance classes. Anything she could to keep her mind busy and not be home, he, on the other hand, was an outcast, a loner. He didn't have many friends, and acted as if he didn't need any. Emerson had listened day after day as her group of friends would talk bad about him, for no reason but that he was different from them. He didn't care what people thought of him, and Em desperately craved that feeling.  
Emerson had never had a problem with confidence. She was a beautiful girl. Boys fell at her feet. But she found that she was second guessing herself as she walked over to the chair next to him. Maybe it was the fact that he didn't fall all over himself in front of her that made her want to know him so much. Maybe it was the fact that she was so much like her father, and wanted to fix everyone. She took a deep breath as she sat next to him.  
He glanced at her, then his eyes went back to the ring.

"What are you doing here?" He asked coldly.

"Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing." She said. He didn't look back at her.  
"I didn't know you liked wrestling." She tried, still no response. Maybe he didn't recognize her.  
"I'm Emerson. We go to school together." She held out her hand.

"I know who you are. You're little Miss Popularity. Head of the cheerleaders, captain of the track team. You're what every girl in our school longs to be. Rich, popular. Gets any guy she wants. You're the one who stands there looking at me as your friends laugh, and talk about me." He said.

"I'm sorry..." Em tried, but stopped as his eyes snapped to her.

"You're just as bad as they are. You think that it matters that you never say anything when your friends are making fun of people. You think that makes you ok? Do you know how many people you hurt?"  
Tears were threatening to spill from her blue eyes.  
"There's no sense in wasting your time with me. I'm not one of your little puppets."

"I was just trying to be nice." Emerson said softly.

"Yeah, it's so easy to be nice when none of your friends are around to see it, huh?" He asked, his eyes turning their attention back to the practice match in the ring.

"There you are, Emmy." She heard her dad's voice call from behind her.

"Hey Dad." She said getting up. As she walked towards her dad, she couldn't help but feel his eyes on her, but she didn't dare to look back at him.


	2. Chapter 2

After her brief chat with Jon, Em had questioned almost everything about herself.

"Emerson! What's wrong with you?" Blake called, leaning in her face, bringing her out of the fog that had claimed her mind all day.

"Sorry." She muttered. As she looked at Blake, her eyes looked passed him, to see Jon sitting at a table by himself. His words replayed in her head.  
_'You're the one who just stands there looking at me as your friends laugh and talk about me.'_  
She listened to the people sitting at her table. Everyone of them were talking about someone else. Making fun of their clothes, of how they act, or how they didn't have money.  
_'You're just as bad as they are.'_ Emerson couldn't take it anymore. She stood up, and slammed her tray full of food down on the table, causing it's contents to tumble off.  
"Just shut up!" She screamed. Every set of eyes in the room turned and looked at her. Every set but one. Jon never once turned towards her. She grabbed her bag and ran out of the room.  
To tell the truth she wasn't sure who she was talking to; her friends, the voice in her head, or Jon.  
She went to her locker to get her books for the next class. She wasn't surprised that none of her friends had followed her. They were astonished with how she had acted. She knew the bell was going to ring soon, and she wasn't so sure if she could face her next class, which contained her entire lunch table. She slammed her locker shut and walked outside the closest door, ducking around the corner, and following the sidewalk to the alley just off school grounds. The alley that none of her friends would have ever been caught dead in. The alley where the loners hung out after school. She leaned against the smooth brick wall, and allowed herself to slide down to the ground as her emotions poured out in the form of tears. She knew that she had to admit that he was right.  
She was just as bad as her friends, maybe even worse, because she knew that what they were doing was wrong. She had seen the looks on people's faces as her friends had made fun of them. She had lived with the guilt of what they did, but did nothing to stop it from happening.  
Before she could recompose herself, smoke filled her nose. She wiped her eyes and looked up, seeing who else but Jon standing next to her, leaning against the wall.

"Hey, Little Miss Perfect." He smirked.

"Shut up." Em said, jumping to her feet.

"I didn't expect to see you here." Jon said, acting as if he hadn't heard her words. "Some place like this is beyond your comfort zone."

"Don't act like you know me." Em said, turning around.  
"You know nothing about me."

"You're easy to read. You like comfort. That's your life."

"You don't know my life. You don't know what I have been through."

"Like I said, you're easy to read." He smirked.

"I have spent months and months on trips with my dad, sleeping on the ground, being eaten alive by bugs in order to help people. Places where comfort doesn't even exist. No clean drinking water. No bathrooms. Nothing but dirt."

"What? Do you want an award? You knew you would get to come back to your comfortable bed, your nice home, in your safe neighborhood." Jon said. "And where are the people you helped? You left them in the hell hole you found them in!"

"Just leave me alone." Em said quietly, turning around and walking away. She went straight to her car and drove home. Home. A place she hated to be anymore, especially alone. As soon as she walked in she was reminded of her mom. Nothing had been changed. Her dad refused to let anything be moved. She went to her room and locked her door, falling down in her bed. She cried, not only because of Jon's words, but because of the loss of her mom. She had thought she was over it, but in actuality she had never really dealt with it. She cried until no more tears would come, until she was exhausted.


	3. Chapter 3

As the months passed Emerson withdrew more and more from her so called friends. As much as she tried to forget the words that Jon had said to her, she couldn't. She knew he was right. She was comfortable in her life. She was comfortable with her status in school. But at the same time she could see how much people were being hurt.  
As she walked out of the lunch line, she let her eyes scan the lunch room. There was her empty seat at her usual lunch table, with all the people she had sat with since middle school, all laughing and having a good time. Then she saw Jon. Sitting alone at a table. She walked straight over to his table and sat down. She could almost hear the hush that fell over the room. She could feel the eyes on her.  
He was the boy that no one wanted anything to do with. Not only because of his appearance, but because they were all scared of him. It was widely known that his home life wasn't the best. But he was known as dangerous.  
Emerson didn't see him that way. She didn't feel scared when she was around him. She didn't see him as dangerous, she saw him as someone who was hurt, who needed a friend.

"Hey." She said softly as she sat her tray down next to his.

"Hey, Emerson." He said, the surprise written all over his face.  
She couldn't help but grin.  
"What?"

"That's the first time you've ever used my name."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." He said, the surprise fading fast, as his normal smug look took it's place.  
"What are you doing sitting here? Your friends kick you out?" He asked, quick to change the subject.

"No, I just felt like it."

"Yeah well, I don't need your pity." He snapped.

"I never..."

"I don't need you feeling sorry for me, and making me your little project. I'm fine on my own." He said, starting to get up. Em reached out and touched his hand, causing him to stop.

"Please stay." She said softly, not looking up. But the way her voice jumped made him sit back down.  
"I'm not here because I feel sorry for you, or pity you."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because you're real. You speak the truth no matter what. No matter who it hurts. You don't deal with people being fake, and I need that in my life, Jon." She said.

"I'm not good with people Emerson. I'm a loner."

"I understand." She said, standing quietly.

"Sit down." He almost demanded.  
"Just understand that I will hurt your feelings."

"Thank you." She said, sitting down. It was the first time she had actually watched him from so close.  
He devoured his food like someone was going to steal it. Em on the other hand had lost her appetite as everyone stared at her.  
She pushed her lunch tray towards him.

"I told you I don't need your pity." He snapped.

"I'm not going to eat it." She said.  
"I just thought I would offer it to you instead of throwing it away."  
A small smile formed on his lips for a split second as he pulled her tray to him.

As soon as she walked into her next class the questions started.  
"What's going on with you and the weirdo?" Blake was relentless with his questioning.

"His name is Jon." Emerson said, taking her seat.

"I don't give a shit what his name is Em, he's..." Just then the teacher enter the room, starting class and silencing Blake's questions.  
When the bell rang, Em jumped up and tried to rush out of the room, but Blake caught up with her, grabbing her arm, stopping her.  
"You're going to talk to me." He demanded.

"Leave me alone, Blake. I can make my own choices."

"No you can't. You sticking up for him proves that." He said, squeezing her arm harder.

"Let go. You're hurting me." She said, trying to get out of his grip.

"Stay away from him, Em. He's dangerous."  
Just then a pair of strong hands landed on Blake's shoulders, pushing him hard against the lockers, making him let go of Em's arm to keep his balance.

"It seems like you're the only dangerous one right now." Jon growled. He turned and looked at Em, then walked away, leaving her to follow him.


	4. Chapter 4

"I don't know why you're still following me." Jon said as he continued to walk.  
"I told you already to just go home."

"I would rather not." Em said softly, almost running into Jon when he came to a sudden stop.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Em asked.

"Why would you not want to go home? I mean, it seems that you and your dad get along. You live in the nice part of town, I'm assuming in a nice house."

"There are too many memories there." Em said, looking at the ground.

"Seriously, Emerson. What could be so bad in your life? Your life is cookie cutter."Emerson's eyes snapped up, and stared Jon right in the face.

"My life isn't perfect. You know I might not have the same problems as you do, but I still have problems all the same. I'm so tired of everyone thinking I'm perfect, and me having to live up to that. I'm not fucking perfect. My family is as fucked up as anyone else's. My dad has mental breakdown practically daily. I throw myself into any thing I can in order to not have to deal with the death of my mother. I push and push myself to make everyone happy, to please everyone. I'm sick of it. For once I thought I had found someone who I could be myself around, but you what Jon, you're just like all the other assholes that attend our school. Fuck you!" She yelled as she turned to walk away.

"Em, come on. I didn't mean it." Jon called as she kept walking.  
"Emerson! Come back here!"  
She didn't listen to him. Instead, she sped up, letting her legs carry her away. She turned several corners before she stopped and wiped the tears from her eyes. She had been sure that she was heading back towards the school, but she found herself deeper into the side of town that she wasn't familiar with. The side of town her father forbid her from going too. The side of town where everyone went for their drugs. The side of town where it wasn't unusual for someone to get shot or stabbed. Jon's side of town.  
Emerson started walking to try to get her bearings back. She noticed a few guys walking behind her, she tried to slow her heartbeat. Telling herself they weren't following her.  
It wasn't until she mistakenly turned down a dead-end alley, that she realized the men had quickened their pace, and was only a few steps behind her. As she turned to backtrack, they were standing in her way.

"Excuse me." She said softly, trying to duck past them.  
A dirty hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, pushing her back the way she came.

"You leaving already?" He laughed.  
"We haven't even had a chance to get to know each other."  
She glanced around, the two other men blocked whatever chance she had for escape. She started backing up, the men followed her.  
"Don't worry, sweetheart, we won't hurt you, too much." The leader said as he reached out and grabbed her hard by her upper arms.

"Let me go." Em yelled, struggling as hard as she could to get away.  
The man laughed at her, pulling her close to him, rubbing himself against her.  
"Stop it!" She screamed, her voice echoing through the alley.  
Her screams and struggles didn't matter to them. They laughed at her as she started to cry.  
"Please let me go." She begged through her tears.

"Oh, I'll let you go, just as soon as I get what I want from you." He snarled at her.  
"You think we can just let such a fine piece of ass walk out of here without getting some of it?"  
He tugged at her shirt. She heard it rip. She knew she had to fight. She wasn't about to end up dead without even putting up a fight.  
She stomped her heel down hard on the man's toes, but it had no affect. Her brain yelled a thousand suggestions at her, but she went for the most obvious, and swift knee, straight to the balls. It leveled him, and he let go.  
She took the opportunity to try to make a run for it, only to be hit hard in the jaw, knocking her to the ground.  
The man on the ground started to get up, as the other two closed in on where her body had scooted across the pavement from the force of the blow.  
She tried to move, but she was disoriented. Her limbs scrambled, but she made no progress on getting up.  
As the angry man reached down for her, she heard a loud, sickening thud, then another. The man that was reaching for her turned towards the noise only to be hit upside the head with a thick metal pipe.  
Emerson forced her eyes to focus on the person holding the pipe. He had found her. He had saved her.  
Now he was reaching for her, helping her to her feet.

"Come on, lets get you out of here." Jon said. Once he realized she was moving on her own, he scooped her up. She let her heavy head fall, letting the darkness take over, finally feeling safe.


End file.
